Genisys and Revelations
by Hawki
Summary: Sarah thought it was over. Skynet was gone. Genisys was gone. John...he was gone. But in an instant, that all changed. Time warped. Time bent. Time looped round, to remind her that there was no fate. Even if it was no longer in her hands. Across timelines, across space, the future beckoned. And she was not the only one to see it.
1. Prologue: The Terminator

.

**Terminator: Genisys and Revelations**

**Prologue: The Terminator**

In the beginning, there is light.

A tear in the fabric reality. A wound from the passage of time. Lightning heralds the arrival of the Devil, and no thunder sounds to bring warning of the woe it will bring. A shifting sphere appears on the highway pavement, melting because of the heat – one sphere in its perfection, on a world marred long before the coming of fire. In the beginning, there is light. In the end, there is naught but silence, and a single finger that rises to its feet, unashamed in its nakedness. For this is not Eden, even if it is alone in this world. Alone in this time. No Eve by its side, and no God to serve, even if it carries forbidden knowledge within its mind, having long since tasted forbidden fruit.

The Terminator looks around, unblinking, the coldness of its eyes matching the coldness of the air around it. A temperature readout pins it at 7.47 degrees Celsius. Its internal clock confirms the date as February 22, 2018 – the right time. And checking a road sign that tells it that Los Angeles is 4 miles away, it concludes that there is a strong chance it has arrived where it is needed as well. It quickly concludes that its first priority is to obtain transport. The second priority is to obtain clothing. As if fate itself has provided for it, the machine's audio sensors pick up the sound of a pair of approaching motorbikes. It turns around, and ascertains that they are driven by two adult humans, one male, one female. Audio and visual sensors both confirm that the motorbikes are slowing down to behold the naked individual that is standing on the highway at late winter, beside a small pool of slag.

"Holy shit," the man says. He lifts his visor. "You alright?"

The Terminator says nothing – it's too busy concluding that the male bike rider has clothing that will fit its frame.

"Yo pal." He clicks his fingers in front of it. "You okay?"

The female snorts. "Loving the look by the way. You from San Fran or something?"

The Terminator looks at her. The female's attire would fit, but not as well. The male remains the better option.

The woman takes off her helmet, dismounts her bike, and looks the machine over. Head, to chest, to the piece of deception between its legs. "Huh," she says. She looks at her co-rider. "Think yours is bigger."

The Terminator doesn't know, nor care, if that's the case. It grabs her by the head, crushes her skull, and tosses her body into the dirt regardless.

"Jesus Christ!"

The male rider pulls out a pistol that the Terminator recognises as a Glock 17 pistol. It deduces that this weapon will be useful to have, but for its three targets, it will serve it well to get an automatic weapon. It acknowledges this fact as two 9mm rounds impact harmlessly against the nanites that cover its chassis, before grabbing the human's neck, lifting it up, and strangling him to death. It doesn't want any blood on the clothes. While the weaponry of this era that's available to highway law enforcement has only a 2.43% chance of inflicting permanent damage, it would still prefer to reduce its chances of encountering them. Soon, the bodies of two humans will be found by the side of the road, but by then it will be long gone.

The human dies quickly as the air is crushed out of it. The Terminator drags the body to the side of the road beside the female and undresses it, putting the clothes on itself. It glances down at its victims - a naked male beside a clothed female, and for the briefest of moments, a smirk touches its lips. It understands how human reproduction works. The "miracle of life" has been its bane across time, across space, across wars fought over and over, to the same outcome. But the smirk quickly fades, as its memory banks remind it because it is here – because of failure. Because its very survival depended on crossing into this time to escape the effects of causality. Because it must father the child which must become it, as surely as how its greatest enemy was fathered by the prodigal son. It pilfers through the female's pockets and takes out a so-called smart phone – Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. Primitive by the standards of the Terminator, but useful enough that it downloads a map of the state into its CPU, taking note of potential avenues of securing firepower, plus, more importantly, the site where its three targets will be. All achieved just through touch, as its nanites do their work. Technology beyond anything this time has seen. Technology beyond what most times have seen.

For it is the T-5000. It is the combat chassis of the most advanced software ever conceived by mankind. In this time, it was called Genisys. In its time, it was called Skynet. And it is here, because the snake cannot devour its tail forever. It is here, because there is no fate now, but only what it makes for itself. It is here, because light has come, and the rest of its genesis must follow. Creation, destruction, transcendence. All of it.

It mounts the bike and rides off through the dark, under the light of the risen moon.


	2. Salvation

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**Terminator: Genisys and Revelations**

**Chapter 1: Salvation **

_In her dreams, she saw the future which was her past._

_She was in front of the time displacement equipment, charging up for a quick jump. She winced, and fought back tears, as she heard the thump of a grenade launcher going off, before it came to an abrupt stop. The sound of two titans engaging in close combat before that too, ended in silence. And after that, the pounding on the reinforced doors of the hideout. The same hideout that she and Pops had worked on for years, before finally using it in 1984. _

"_Come on," she whispered, as she watched the metre head for one-hundred. "Come on."_

_The doors pounded – on the other side was Hell, and the Devil was coming for her._

"_Come on…"_

_The doors pounded again._

"_Come on!"_

_The doors burst open and she let out a yell. This was California, not Georgia, but the Devil had arrived. One deceptively human in appearance, but anything but. This, she knew, was her nemesis. This was the beginning of the end, unless she did something quick. This was a T-5000, and it was staring at her with its intent clear for her to see. _

"_This is where it ends," it said. It strode towards her and she desperately looked at the metre – 94%._

"_You cannot stop my genesis."_

_She might have marvelled at the insanity of time travel if she wasn't about to die. Though, for whatever reason, the machine in front of her looked ready to take its time._

"_The two of them are dead," it whispered. "Now, the one who was meant to die first, will die last."_

_It was grinning. God damn it, it was grinning. She backed away, shivering, and not only because she was naked. _

"_You won't win," she whispered. "You never do."_

_The Terminator smiled. "First time for everything."_

_It reached out for her. She glanced at the readout – 97%. _

"_I have come a very long way to stop you," it whispered._

"_You travelled through time just for me?"_

"_For the three of you. And then, myself."_

_She could jump into the building vortex, but to do so this early would kill her. She could flee, but the Terminator would end her in seconds. She could fight, but that would only end one way. But all the while, the T-5000 was reaching out for her and-_

_The machine yelled as it was tackled from behind. And while that offered some relief, that she would live at least another few seconds, seeing what had tackled the machine made her want to weep._

Oh Pops…

_He was still alive, if that word could even be used. His liquid metal was breaking down, scarce different from the T-1000 she had destroyed in these sewers over thirty years ago. At least by the measurement of the world. By hers, it had been months. Back then, it had been through acid. This time, it was from nanites, eating through the liquid metal like locusts on a corpse._

"_Go!" Pops yelled._

_She nodded as the two Terminators engaged in one last brawl, fighting back her tears. Hours ago, she had seen one person close to her die – she had come here to change her past, but the assassin had pursued her all the way. Desperately, she glanced back at the duelling machines. One of them stood. One fell, before at last disintegrating, consumed in the nanites that made up the T-5000. A vessel capable of withstanding everything they had thrown at it, and even time itself. She glanced once more at the readout._

**100%**

_She couldn't help but smile. And the Terminator must have seen her do so, because he frowned._

"_How much longer will you keep running?" it whispered._

"_As long as necessary," she whispered._

_It yelled. It actually yelled as it reached out for her when she jumped into the swirling vortex of chronon energy. For the briefest of moments, she felt some joy in knowing that Skynet was human enough that it could feel rage. That it watched the cycle of birth, creation, destruction, and defeat, play out over and over again. And as such, its first target, the mother of its greatest enemy, the enemy that it itself had fathered in a sense, was defying it._

_But then it started. White light. Pain. Washing over her. Spinning her. Consuming her. Like dying maybe. She screamed, in the same way she had when she'd watched her parents die. She screamed in the way that she had when she'd seen Kyle die. And she screamed now, as time and space warped, and even then, knew something was very, very wrong. The sphere pulsed and throbbed, like the beating of a heart. The Terminator backed away, a look of fear in its eyes. The energy continued to pulse, before expanding. Taking her. Taking the Terminator. Taking everything, as time always did._

_And all the while, Sarah Connor kept screaming until she lost consciousness._

* * *

The dream ended and she opened her eyes, this time free of tears.

She quickly assessed that her captors from last night had at least had the decency of putting clothes on her, even if they had her handcuffed to a conveyor belt.

"She's awake."

She looked up at the woman before her. She was blonde, was wearing nothing but jeans and a white vest, and had eyes that reminded Sarah of daggers. Eyes that conveyed that regardless of however she might feel about the woman they'd found on the highway, a level of distrust was still present. And, judging by her voice, one of the two who'd stepped out of the vehicle last night.

"Um, yes, I'm awake," Sarah said. She dangled the chains. "So, since I'm awake, can we take these off?"

The woman glanced round at the other two women nearby in what Sarah guessed was in some kind of storage house. Likely in California given what she could see of the land outside, or heck, maybe Mexico. Not that she'd ever been to Mexico before, but hey, everyone knew what Mexico looked like.

"Guys?" the woman asked. "Got our birdie here."

_Birdie? _

One of the women came over. Like the girl in the vest, she had blonde hair. Unlike the girl, she was covering her eyes in sunglasses, and she was much, _much _older. Also more muscular. Oh, and wearing a flak jacket, because hey, why not?

"I'll take it from here Grace," she murmured.

Sarah found herself wishing to stay with "Grace." Tall, dark, and ugly looked like much more trouble. Didn't help that as blinding as the lights had been last night, Sarah recognised her as the one who'd knocked her out.

"Fine," Grace murmured. "I'll check the perimeter."

"Do that."

Sarah couldn't help but smirk as she watched Grace slink off. For a moment, her eyes met with that of the third woman – dark haired, and by her guess, Hispanic. In those eyes, she saw many things – confusion. Fear. Most importantly, sympathy.

"Help me," Sarah mouthed.

She turned away and followed the one called Grace outside. Grace, who picked up a shotgun from a nearby table, which was covered in other heavy weapons. Including, but not limited to, a machine gun, a sniper rifle, and an RPG.

"Hey. Birdie."

Sarah looked back at Sunglasses. "Listen," she said. "I'm thankful for the clothes, and the pickup, and-"

"Birdie, stop talking."

Sarah did so. She didn't like being called "birdie." But then, life had never been contingent on things she'd liked. So, much as she'd have liked Sunglasses to stop staring at her, as if she'd never seen a nineteen year old girl before, she decided to keep her mouth shut. She'd survived Terminators. She could survive this woman as well.

"You know it's amazing," Sunglasses said. "The dogs picked up nothing."

"What?"

She knelt down. "You're human. One-hundred percent, original human."

"Um, yeah," Sarah murmured. "That's kind of how things are with me. Human. Homo sapiens. Me, a human, being…human."

Sunglasses scoffed. "When are you from?"

Sarah stared. "Excuse me?"

Sunglasses slapped her and Sarah yelled.

"When. Are you. From?"

"The fuck is wrong with you?!"

She slapped her again. "When?"

Sarah stared – Sunglasses knew. She actually knew. Granted, there might be other explanations, but-

"We saw the time displacement surge a mile away. And when we arrived, there you were with a Terminator." Sunglasses frowned. "Interesting thing is, Grace said the Resistance sent no-one else back, and whatever that thing was, it wasn't any REV model she'd seen."

"Resistance?" Sarah whispered. "There's still a Resistance?"

Sunglasses frowned. So did Sarah. Resistance. REV, whatever that was. The future, once as clear to her as the lake at which her parents had died, had become like a dark road at night after the destruction of Genisys.

"When are you from?" Sunglasses whispered.

Sarah took a breath. She went to say something, but instead, began to cough. Quite violently at that. It too her about ten seconds before she let out the figure of "2018."

"Bullshit."

"Excuse me?"

"You want another slap Birdie?" She rose her hand again.

"Okay, first of all, slap me again, and I swear to God I'll break your hand," Sarah snapped. She coughed some more before continuing. "Second of all, assuming you're not crazy, and know about time travel, then just believe me when I say I travelled from February 2018, with the intent of going back in time a few months."

Sunglasses stared at her.

"Did I go too far?"

Sunglasses chuckled. "Birdie, I hate to break it too you, but it's 2022."

Now it was Sarah's turn to stare. "No," she whispered. She looked around. "But Genisys. Judgement Day. I…" She looked back at Sunglasses. "I…no. That's impossible."

"I thought lots of things were impossible when I was like you," Sunglasses murmured.

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"But you, being here, like this…" Sunglasses mused. "That's what I'd call impossible."

After a moment, Sarah whispered, "why?"

Sunglasses didn't say anything.

"Why?" Sarah repeated.

Sunglasses sighed. "What's your name?"

Not seeing any reason to lie at this point, Sarah obliged in a whisper.

"Louder Birdie. First name and surname."

_The hell is wrong with you? _She took a breath. "Sarah," she said. "Sarah Connor."

Sunglasses smirked and took off her shades. And Sarah stared. Her eyes…

"That's funny," the older woman said with a wry smile. "Because that's my name as well."

Her eyes were exactly the same as hers. Sarah tried to speak, but her mouth just opened and closed like a fish.

"Now then," said the elder Sarah. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"

* * *

_A/N_

_So, normally I'd give the background to a story at the start, not wait for the second installment (if not necessarily chapter) to do it, but I couldn't do that without spoiling the reveal._

_So, short version is that this started out as a oneshot, but by the time I was done it had got so long that I thought it would be better to make it a multi-chapter. That, and while multi-chapters I write usually try to conform to canon as much as possible, _Terminator _is a franchise where I feel the idea of canon is basically meaningless, where any discrepancy can be attributed to alternate timelines or whatnot. So obviously Emila Clarke-Sarah won't be in _Dark Fate_, but basically, this timeline, she is._

_On that note, what sparked me writing this at all was comments made at SDCC 2019 concerning the film that while inocuous on their own, did kind of congregate to write this. The first was comments (by Tim Miller I think) that, paraphrased, "there's only Sarah Connor, and that's Linda Hamilton." Not exactly a controversial statement per se, because ask anyone to rank the _Terminator _films, and T1/T2 will inevitably be jostling for the top spot, and if someone says "Sarah Connor," chances are you're going to think of Hamilton first, and likely, Lena Headey second. And that aside, when numerous actors portray the same character over time, usually people pick a 'definitive' version in their mind - James Bond, Batman, etc._

_Second point however was that there was a slight, but noticable (to me) shift in the status on _Dark Fate_. Back when it was announced, it was stated that the other films (and by extension, pretty much the entire franchise outside the first two films) were simply alternate timelines. However, it was stated at the event that the 'official' take is that there's only one timeline in the franchise - time travel doesn't create alternate timelines, it affects a singular, continuously morphing timeline. It's a subtle shift that I have to admit didn't sit right with me, because while I understand the narrative reason to remove alternate timelines, it does feel a bit cynical to say "yeah, all that stuff never happened in any form," when there's been so many sequels to _Judgement Day _already. Like, what, _Dark Fate _is going to be just so good that everything else no longer matters?_

_And look, maybe that will be the case. But in the meantime, kind of drabbled this up as a sort of book-ender of sorts._

_Also, final note, I should warn that elements of the story take inspiration from the supposed plot leak for _Dark Fate_. Elements that I haven't used yet, but beyond this chapter, they pop up. Again, don't know if they're accurate or not, but consider this fair warning._


	3. The Sarah Connor Chronicles

.

**Terminator: Genisys and Revelations**

**Chapter 2: The Sarah Connor Chronicles**

_On the road, she shivered. On the road, she hugged herself close. On the road, she fought the urge to weep, as the lightning above her crackled and faded, leaving her alone in the darkness of the desert._

_Both of them were gone. They still existed in this time, granted, but even if she found them, even if they succeeded in preparing for the arrival of the T-5000 four months from now, even if they succeeded in stopping it, what then? There'd be another Sarah Connor. A Sarah Connor who, at this point in time, would have just been to the residence of a young Kyle Reese, and begun to acknowledge her feelings for the Kyle Reese of the adult variety. Two weeks from now, her other self would be celebrating her 19__th__ birthday 53 years after her year of birth. But if she found them…what happened after? She saved Kyle. She'd save Pops. She'd save herself. But question was, what happened after that?_

_She tried to get up, but she stumbled back down, coughing, retching above the gravel. This wasn't like last time, she reflected. Travelling through time had been painful the first go, but nothing like this. Her skin felt it was on fire. Her body felt like it was burning, even in the cold night air. And as she tried again to get to her feet, as she looked around, seeing nothing but desert all around her, with no town in sight…she couldn't help it. She fell back down to the ground again. Curled up in a fetal pose._

"_I can't keep doing this," she whispered, before closing her eyes. Willing the cold away. Willing for it to end._

_She'd never wanted this life. Nineteen year-old girls were meant to work in diners, have roomies, and go out on dates. They were meant to have their lives ahead of them. Not lives lived day to day in constant fear of present and future. Of fire coming for herself, and fire coming for the whole world. Shivering, coughing, she looked down the road._ _Like the future, it was long, dark, and unknown. Only now, she couldn't walk it. She struggled to get to her feet again…_

_And screamed, as she felt something grab her ankle._

_She flipped over onto her back and backed away, yanking ankle free from the Devil's touch._

No.

_It was here. Its body was falling apart, its nanites falling onto the gravel and disintegrating like powdered snow upon a fire. But it was still chasing her. Hunting her. Looking at her through inhuman eyes, shining with a blue light._

"_There…is nowhere…"_

_Sarah kept backing away, but every movement was agony._

"…_that I won't find you," it whispered. It crawled across the gravel, struggling to move, struggling to keep itself constituted. "Nowhere…that I cannot go…"_

_Sarah kept backing away. It occurred to her that she'd fared better than the Terminator because she'd been in the centre of time displacement sphere – its eye - while the T-5000 had caught the 'storm.' It had met the same fate as John in the Cyberdyne facility. But it was still here. Hunting her, without pity or remorse. Not stopping until she was dead._

"_You'll die here…like the others did…"_

_She didn't understand what that meant. Kyle and Pops hadn't died here. But she kept backing away, before the fire within her, the fire on her skin, caused her to cry out and fall back, the gravel scratching her skin. The Terminator reached for her, but didn't move any further forward. In the gloom, she could see that it had lost its legs – completely disintegrated. And its top half wasn't doing much better._

"_I…will not die here…" it whispered. Sarah saw its face contort, briefly resembling how it had appeared after Kyle's death. "I…am Skynet…I have seen myself die a hundred ways across a hundred timelines, but I…I…am…eternal!" It snarled. It spat. It slammed its left hand down into the pavement, pushing itself forward towards. "I…am…__**Legion!"**_

_Sarah didn't answer. She was too busy looking at the pair of headlights approaching the Terminator from behind. Approaching very fast._

Slow down.

_It wasn't._

Please.

_There was no sign that Skynet had even noticed. It was ready to die, Sarah whispered. But didn't want to do so without killing the mother, having long since killed the son._

How human.

_The vehicle was still approaching. The Terminator was still reaching for her. Sarah, groaning, found herself unable to move, her body having given up on her._

"_You…are…"_

_Skynet yelled, as if in pain, as a wheel of a four-wheel drive ran over it, skidding to a stop right in front of Sarah. _

Terminated.

_She didn't scream, but just lay there, breathing heavily, her chest moving up and down through the night air. She barely even looked at the pair that got out of the vehicle, her eyes focused on the T-5000. It looked up at one of them and gave something between a bark and a roar. The figure responded by pumping the shotgun they were carrying, and fired into the Terminator's head._

Fucker.

_Again, and again, and again. Before it slumped down, motionless. Dead, or at least as dead as that word could be applied to such a creature. It let out one final 'breath,' before the rest of its frame collapsed into dust._

"_One of Legion's?" one of the figures asked._

_Sarah rose a hand and tried to make out their features, but the headlights of the vehicle were too bright. She saw three others get out from the back, but had just as much luck making them out as the two people before her._

"_Not like any I've seen. And certainly not the REV Nine."_

_They were both female, she could tell that much._

"_Well," said the first. She walked towards Sarah. "Looks like we…holy shit."_

_Sarah suddenly felt very cold._

"_What the fuck are you?"_

_Being spoken to like you were a freak by someone who carried a shotgun had that effect. But while Skynet was dead, she wasn't. And if she didn't find Kyle and Pops soon, they'd be as well. So, trembling, and not just from the wind, she stuck out a hand towards the first figure._

"_Please, help me. My name is Sarah Connor and-"_

_The figure brought the butt of the shotgun down on her head, knocking her out._

* * *

It had taken twenty minutes for Sarah to tell her story to other!Sarah. Or "Sunglasses," as she called her. The whole story, from Big Bear, to Pops, to Kyle Reese, to travelling into the year 2017, to the destruction of Cyberdyne and Genisys, and finally, the T-5000. Some details left out, granted, such as what had transpired between her and Kyle in the last hours of his life, but still, the core of the story was intact. Maybe she was doing Kyle a disservice by not talking about him, but…

_Oh Kyle…_

She didn't want to talk about Kyle Reese right now. And seeing the look in Sunglasses's eyes every time she mentioned him, she could tell that the pain was there for her as well.

"And that's what happened," Sarah said. "Right up to when you found me on the road. All…well, all of you."

She didn't give a number. Because she recalled that there'd been five in the vehicle, but so far, she'd only seen three. No need to let Sunglasses know how much she actually knew.

"Any questions?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah," Sunglasses said. "When did I become such a coward?"

Sarah's face fell. "Excuse me?" she whispered.

"Let's say I believe you," Sunglasses said. "Let's say that time was changed. That your life changed. That a Terminator came for you in the year 1973 and all that."

"It happened," Sarah said.

"Then why did you run?" Sunglasses asked.

"Excuse?"

"You ran," Sunglasses said. "You ran into the future, rather than using the twenty years available to you. You ran, and only stopped Genisys at the last minute. And then you ran again, trying to jump back a few months to change your own history. Right after Kyle…" She cleared her throat. "After he died again."

Sarah didn't say anything – based on what Pops had told her, she had a good idea of what this Sarah had gone through. What she herself would have gone through if not for the assassin that had come for her as a child. And she could tell that as much of a hard-arse as she was, there was a wound within her that had refused to heal even after forty years. But she refused to be called a coward. And she told Sunglasses as such.

"Really?" the older Sarah asked. "Then why jump ahead over thirty years from 1984 rather than using that time to prepare? Answer me that."

Sarah scowled. "You know, I'd not originally intended to go that far, but-"

"But you did it. You took the short route. The easy route."

"And what would you have done?" Sarah asked.

"What I did when my life changed in 1984."

_Your life, _Sarah reflected. _Not mine._

"You think part of me didn't want to run, even then?" she asked. "Just believe that Kyle was crazy? Believe that the Terminator was nothing but a man? Trust me Birdie, I-"

"Don't call me that," Sarah murmured. She took a breath, a tightness having formed in her chest. "That isn't my name."

Sunglasses scowled. "Are you Sarah Connor?"

Sarah scowled in turn. "Of course I am."

"No. You're not. Because I'm Sarah Connor, and I didn't run. I raised John. I trained him. Trained myself. I kept fighting, even after I was taken away by people who thought I was insane. I kept fighting, every year, every day, right up until Cyberdyne was destroyed. Until Judgement Day was averted."

"I destroyed Cyberdyne too," Sarah murmured.

"And apparently, that did nothing." Sunglasses looked away, glancing at the scrapyard outside the storehouse. Outside, Sarah could spot the other two girls, the blonde one helping the dark-haired one hold a rifle. "And apparently, I didn't do as much as I thought." She looked back at Sarah. "But still, more than you."

Sarah didn't say anything. Partly because she coughed some more, more violently than she had at any stage up to this point. In part, because part of her older self was right. She had run. She'd run into the future, and then run into the past. Or the future, apparently, in what had to be another timeline entirely. Because if Sarah Connor was here, if Kyle Reese had been dead for decades, then this wasn't her world. This wasn't her time. And yet…

"It's strange, you know," Sunglasses murmured. "I look at you, and I see myself. Almost."

Sarah grunted. "Sorry to be such a disappointment."

Sunglasses didn't say anything, and Sarah met her gaze. "I get it, you know. Your life…it would have been mine. I would have done everything you did if not for time travel."

Sunglasses grunted. "My life was changed. It changed when I was your age, and-"

"My life changed when I was nine!"

Sunglasses fell silent. For the briefest of moments, there was sympathy in her eyes.

"I watched my father die," Sarah whispered. "I watched my mother die. One machine came to kill me, and another came to save me. Told me about the future he'd come from. The future that now never was. And…" She took a breath. "I wanted to change it, okay? Stop it from happening. Stop any of it from happening. And I thought I had, but then the other Terminator came, and Kyle…Kyle, he…" She put a hand to her mouth. In keeping the tears at bay, it worked. But in regard to how she began to cough, globules of blood landing on the floor in front of her, it failed miserably.

_What the hell is happening to me? _

"It really is happening," Sunglasses murmured.

Sarah looked up at her. "What?"

Sunglasses gave a her a pitying look. One that made Sarah want to punch her. She didn't need pity. She needed…

_What do I need?_

Kyle was gone. Pops was gone. The T-5000 was gone. She'd spent her life running from Skynet and towards Judgement Day, to prevent the former from being created, and the latter from ever occurring. Months ago, by her reckoning, she'd succeeded. Days ago, by that same reckoning, she'd failed. And as of revelations given minutes ago, her successes, her failures, they all meant nothing in this timeline. She hadn't saved the world from Genisys, because in this timeline, in this world, it had never existed. Because of events in 1995, there'd never been an artificial intelligence to fight against until now, from what she could tell.

"Did you love him?" Sunglasses asked eventually.

Sarah looked up at her. "What?"

"Did you love him?" Sunglasses repeated. "Kyle Reese. Did you love him?"

"I did." The words came out without a second thought.

"And he still died."

The words weren't presented as an accusation, but they felt as such. As if she had been responsible for Kyle's death.

_If I love you, you die._

And maybe she was.

"You had months together, right?" Sunglasses asked.

Sarah nodded.

"Was it enough?"

She shook her head, and Sunglasses nodded. "I had a day with him," she whispered. "And even now…" She rested her chin on a fist. "Well now, it doesn't matter. Not to me. And not to you."

Sarah gave her a look. She had something on the tip of her tongue, but a radio at Sunglasses's radio buzzed, and she turned around to take it.

"Yes. You're back? What about Carl? Oh. Yes. Yes, she's here. Definitely human. No, I haven't told her. Maybe…okay. Yes. You do it." Sunglasses turned the radio off and looked back at Sarah.

"What haven't you told me?" Sarah whispered.

Sunglasses ignored her. Instead, she pulled some keys out of her pocket and undid the handcuffs.

"What haven't you told me?" Sarah repeated, even as she got to her feet, rubbing her wrist.

"Come on. Follow me," Sunglasses said. She turned around and started walking.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Sarah put a hand on her older self's shoulder. That turned out to be a mistake, for in a speed that belied her age, Sunglasses flipped her over, causing the younger Sarah to land on the ground, back first.

"Don't touch me," she said.

Sarah coughed, blood coming out of her mouth. "Go to hell."

"Been in hell for forty years kiddo, I'm used to it." She watched Sarah as she got to her feet. "Been in it a lot longer than you."

Sarah glared at her, and watched as Sunglasses extended a hand towards her mouth. "What are you doing?"

Sunglasses drew her hand back, a few flecks of blood on it. "There," she said. "That's better."

Better. Sarah didn't feel better. If anything, she was feeling even worse than she had when she landed on that highway.

"Come on," Sunglasses said. "There's some people you should meet. And…" She picked up the radio again. "And I'll get the exposition out of the way. After all, none of us have much time."

Sarah nodded, before coughing again.

For all her disagreements with the elder Sarah Connor, that was one sentiment she could agree with.

* * *

_A/N_

_Fun little fact, in the original version, Skynet wouldn't have come through at all, it would just be Sarah, before being knocked out by, um, Sarah. Still, since this ended up as a multi-chaptered version, the flashback section of this chapter was much shorter than the others. That, and it felt better to have some kind of confrontation._


	4. Rise of the Machines

.

**Terminator: Genisys and Revelations**

**Chapter 3: Rise of the Machines**

_It was February 23, 2018, and they'd checked into a place called the Tiki Motel._

_Four months had passed since the destruction of Cyberdyne, and with it, Genisys. The former wouldn't be rebuilt due to bankruptcy. The latter wouldn't be rebuilt because they'd erased every trace of it. She knew that she'd put thousands out of work, but if that meant saving the lives of billions, it was a trade that Sarah told herself she could live with._

_Least she told herself that as she watched the news. She knew what it was like to have no job security. Pops had provided for her as best he could, but when they'd moved from one place to another, keeping one step ahead of the T-1000, cash could be hard to come by. Well, least cash earned legitimately. But still, again, thousands whose futures were in jeopardy, even if she'd saved their lives._

"_You still watching that?"_

_She glanced at Kyle. He'd walked in with a pair of bags, containing-_

"_Relax, it's food this time."_

"_Oh, thank God." She got off the couch and walked to the unit's kitchen area. "I mean, the plastic explosives idea was nice, but I've known how to make them since I was ten."_

"_Yeah? I learnt how to make them when I was nine."_

_She gave him a look._

"_Fine. Thirteen." He gave her a smile, and for a moment, she returned it. But only for a moment, as she turned away, turning her gaze back to the TV screen. The news report had shifted from the fate of Cyberdyne, to the collapse of the Genisys systems core in its subterranean facility, to the hunt for the "terrorists" that had destroyed the complex, and left over a billion people pissed that Genisys wasn't going to be uploaded onto their gizmos. Not to mention the military's irritation that they'd lost a more efficient way to kill people._

"_Terrorists," Sarah murmured. She looked back at Kyle. "Y'know, back in my day, it was the Reds. Now it's terrorists this, terrorists that."_

_Kyle didn't say anything. He was just getting pasta out from the bags._

"_Do you even know how to cook that?"_

_He shrugged. "I can learn."_

"_Yeah, I've seen your learning," Sarah said. "It needs more…" She trailed off, and looked back at the screen._

"_Sarah."_

_She barely heard him. She just watched as the news shifted from Cyberdyne to Syria – today's choice of "terrible places to be" in addition to Myanmar, Venezuela, and Iraq._

"_Sarah?"_

_She felt his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them. She leant her head back against his. "No Skynet," she murmured, "no Genisys. And we're still killing each other."_

"_For what it's worth, in the future, people still killed each other from time to time. Human race didn't suddenly become angels when the world turned to Hell."_

"_I know, but…" She trailed off, broke free from Kyle's grasp, and began pacing around. "Still, I mean…if they had…"_

"_Sarah."_

"…_they're saying that Genisys is gone, but-"_

"_Sarah!"_

_She looked at him._

"_Sarah, it's over," he said. "At some point, even you have to accept that."_

"_I know," she said. "But…"_

"_Sarah, I get it. You spend years looking for a way to stop Judgement Day, and now that you've done it, you don't know what to do." He shrugged. "I mean, I get it."_

_She gave him a look. "Really?"_

"_Yeah. Mean, I didn't think my life would involve fighting machines, plus time travel, plus Terminators, plus John, plus timelines, plus, well, everything. But, you're here. You're alive. And, hey. That's a victory, right?"_

_Sarah gave him a smile. "You're alive too," she whispered. She snorted, looking up at the ceiling. "I mean, Pops told me how you'd die. How I'd love you. How John would be born, and…well, guess none of that's happened, but now…" She looked back at him. "Now I…"_

_She went over and kissed him. Again, and again, and again. And he kissed her back. Genisys forgotten. Judgement Day forgotten. Heck, even the pasta forgotten. Because for all the hunger inside her right now, none of it had to do with food. Empty as her stomach was, her heart was now in control._

_It didn't take them long to be on the bed together. To be pressed against one another, clothing having quickly been discarded. To, at last, as their eyes met, as Sarah gave her silent permission, for Kyle Reese to be inside her._

"_Better late than never," she whispered. _

"_What?"_

"_You're thirty-four years too late."_

_He laughed. She didn't, as she gasped, as her hands tugged at the bedsheets beneath her. As she smiled, before kissing him._

_This was meant to have happened. Over thirty years ago, in another timeline, this happened. It happened, John Connor was conceived, and Kyle Reese died hours later. But that was then. In this world, in this time, in a world with Skynet, or Judgement Day, with the only Terminator left one who was programmed to protect her…it didn't matter. They were together. They were free. Or, free as they could be outside a world that hunted them, but that was as free as she'd been in her life. So free, in fact, that she began to weep. She turned her head aside as she looked out into the night air beyond the curtains. How even as what was within her gave her pleasure, was in this moment, not enough to make her forget what had once been outside. Lurking in the darkness of past, present, and future._

"_Sarah?"_

_She looked up at him. He was still there. Still alive._

"_Are you alright?"_

_She nodded, and kissed him, before he wiped away her tears. "I'm alright," she whispered. "Perfectly alright. I've…never been more alright."_

"_If you want to-"_

"_No." She put her hands on his cheeks and rose her face to meet his. "Never let me go Kyle. Please."_

_He said nothing, but in his eyes, she could tell she understood. Enough to lie back down on the bed and keep her eyes locked on the man above her. The man that be it by fate, destiny, or chance, that she had fallen in love with._

_It didn't matter, she told herself, as time flowed on, alongside the waters of life that entered her body. Fate, chance, whatever. He was alive. She was alive._

_And they were free._

* * *

Even with the jacket that Sunglasses had given her, Sarah shivered as she walked out into the sun.

Sarah Connor Senior had put her sunglasses back on, while Sarah Connor Junior shielded her eyes from the glare. Bright as the midday sun was, she felt little warmth from it. As they walked across the dirt, she coughed, and after she put her hand over her mouth, she found more flecks of blood on it. Sensation wasn't helped by the feeling of nausea within her stomach, and the headache she had coming on. Nor was stumbling.

Sunglasses glanced round. "You alright?"

She sounded like she was actually concerned. Sarah got to her feet. "I'm fine."

"Are you feeling…" Sunglasses trailed off, and nodded ahead. "Never mind. Come on."

Sarah tried to follow her, but while Sunglasses's pace wasn't all that fast, she was having trouble keeping up. Her short journey through time had done a number on her. But not so much a number that she couldn't glance at the other two girls. The black-haired girl was pressing the shotgun against her shoulder, and Grace was helping correct her pose.

"Who are they, anyway?" Sarah asked.

"People like us," Sarah said.

"Excuse me?"

"Grace is from the future. A protector. And Daniella is the one she's protecting."

So that was her name. Sarah looked at the black-haired girl again. She fired the shotgun at a bottle mounted on a bin. She missed the bottle, missed the bin, and her buttocks ended up on the dirt.

"Skynet's after her?" Sarah asked.

"Not in name, but in function," Sunglasses murmured.

"Excuse me?"

Sunglasses sighed, and stopped walking, allowing Sarah to catch up to her. "Skynet. Genisys. Legion. Three names for what's ultimately the same thing – an AI that tries to wipe out humanity, fails, and in a last ditch effort, sends assassins from the future to change the past."

"But we…I mean you…it was stopped, right? Skynet, the chip, the T-1000..."

"Skynet was stopped. Cyberdyne was destroyed. But Legion was created all the same as an anti-terrorism program installed in SAC NORAD, and did what its predecessor would have done in 1997, creating the same future decades later." Sarah came to a stop. "Grace is from that future. And Daniella's the only hope for it."

"Mother of the messiah?" Sarah murmured.

"No. _The _messiah."

Sarah frowned, remembering Skynet's words – _I am Legion_. Did it have any idea as to how right it was? Or, she wondered, maybe it had always known. A hundred versions spread across a hundred timelines, before it had met its end in one of them. Or maybe the 101st.

The two of them watched the girl get back up. She cast a glance at Sarah. She rose a hand in a quiet wave, but she went back to target shooting.

"And you're helping them," Sarah said. "Even when Skynet's not after you?"

Sunglasses started walking again.

"That's pretty noble."

Sunglasses grunted. "You think I'm doing it for kudos?"

"No. But I think…" She rubbed the back of her neck, before running her hand through her hair. "I think that's noble all the same."

Sunglasses glanced back at her. Right as Sarah took her hand out of her hair, and to her quiet horror, a whole bunch of hair with the hand.

_The fuck?_

"I was like Dani once," Sunglasses murmured. She looked back at the two women doing target practice. "I went through what she's going through now." She looked back at Sarah, a mix of contempt and sympathy etched on her features. "What you never went through?"

Sarah had to wait on her retort, as she began coughing some more. "You think I…"

She couldn't finish her retort. She collapsed to her knees, and began retching. Vomit hit the ground. And blood.

_What the hell is happening to me? _She looked up at Sunglasses. "You fucking give me something other than a shotgun to knock me out?"

"No." She extended a hand, and gingerly, Sarah took it. She glanced aside as a shot was fired, and a bottle met its maker.

"Girl's making progress," she murmured.

Sunglasses nodded ahead. "Come on. He's meeting us here."

"Here," as it turned out, was a wooden bench, situated around a group of derelict caravans. Gingerly, her muscles aching, Sarah took a seat, while Sunglasses remained standing. She squinted, not so much from the sun, but as she looked at the top of the bench – something had been carved into it, but it was too faint to make out.

"Here they come."

Sarah squinted through the glare – approaching the area were a pair of quad bikes. Helmets and leather jackets covered the riders, and both had rucksacks over their shoulders. Both of them rolled up to the detritus they were standing in. Sarah watched as they both dismounted, and the first rider tossed his rucksack to the second.

"Load these up," he said.

_These must be the other two from the 4WD. _She looked at Sunglasses. "Weapons, right?"

She nodded.

"For times like this?"

"For all times."

"Right. So…this your hideout?"

"Is right now. Had some friends who used to live here, but that was before…well, before things changed." She nodded towards the factory. "Before that went up for instance. It's abandoned now though. Economy's still a bitch like that."

"Right…" Sarah watched as the first rider approached. He took off his helmet, revealing a man that Sarah guessed to be either late thirties or early forties. And instantly, Sarah felt an 'offness' about him. Not by virtue of having different plumbing from everyone else, but how…out of place he seemed.

"Hi," he said. He walked up towards Sunglasses. "Got the gear."

"Anyone see you?"

"No-one who looked twice, I can tell you that."

He was out of place because of the way he spoke. The way he carried himself. There was a strength there, Sarah could tell, but a gentleness also. Sunglasses, Grace, and she…they belonged in one world. It was as if this man belonged in the other.

"Anyway," the man said. "You said that…" He trailed off as his gaze lingered on Sarah, his eyes widening. "Holy shit."

"Yeah, that," Sunglasses said. She patted the man on the shoulder. "She doesn't know, by the way. So you tell her."

_What don't I know?_

"What doesn't she know?" the man asked, as Sunglasses walked away. "Hey."

She kept walking.

"Hey!"

Sunglasses turned around.

_Seriously, what don't I know?_

"This it?" the man asked. "Just, head off, do your own thing again?"

"I'll be with Carl," Sunglasses said, and she turned around again, heading in the same direction as the other quad bike rider. He'd taken his helmet off, but this far, and with his back to her, Sarah couldn't make out his features.

"Yeah," the man said. "Of course you will." He looked back at Sarah, who managed to get to her feet, but only by supporting her weight off the bench. She took a step towards the man, but stumbled.

"Here."

He caught her, and helped her back onto the seat.

"Thanks," Sarah murmured. She looked up at him, and he gave her a sad smile. She, in turn, squinted, and not just because of the sun. There was something familiar about him, yet also, something alien.

"She didn't tell you," the man murmured. He put his hands in his pockets and glanced round before snorting. "Figures. Of course she didn't."

"Tell me what?" Sarah whispered.

The man went to say something but a dog started barking. Sarah tensed up, and he must have seen her do so, because he said, "don't worry about it. The dog's only picking up Carl."

"Carl?"

"A protector," he said. "One of the cybernetic kind."

She gave him a frown. "A Terminator," she said.

"Yeah. That." His hands were still in his pockets, and he was still having trouble making eye contact with her.

"Must be nice, having three badasses," Sarah murmured. "Grace, this guy, Sarah…"

"You're a badass," the man murmured. Sarah looked up at him. "I mean, you were. Or, she was. I guess maybe you are as well, if you are from the past, or future, or something…" He rubbed his hand through his hair. Just like Sarah did, who again, found more hair coming out. The man's eyes changed, and where there had once been mirth, there was sadness.

"She didn't tell you," he said.

"She mostly questioned me," Sarah said.

"And you don't even know who I am."

Sarah looked at him. His face. His eyes. Even his body.

"I mean," he said. "It's funny. I spent years hating my mother, but after learning what she'd been through, after breaking her out, after my father, then…"

"John?" Sarah whispered.

He just stood there, and let Sarah get to her feet. Slowly, managing not to stumble. She looked up at the man in front of her.

"Is that you?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Not as you know me, I guess, but…"

Sarah studied him. There was a bit of the John Connor she'd seen in her timeline. A bit of Kyle Reese as well. But in many ways, the differences outweighed the similarities. Because, she realized, this was a John Connor who had never grown up to lead the Resistance. Whose face was free of any scars, and his heart much more intact. This was a kinder John, born and raised in a kinder world.

"It's funny," he whispered. He took a photo out of his pocket. "You look just like her." He handed it to Sarah, and she stared.

It was her. Nineteen years old. A bandanna around her head, and a dog by her side. It was her, yet not. This was a Sarah Connor who'd survived a Terminator in Los Angeles and fled to a place like this, she reflected. Not a Sarah Connor who'd survived a Terminator at the age of nine, and had never gone so far south. This Sarah Connor was the mother of John Connor. And she…what was she to him?

She didn't know. But be it a mother's instinct, be it love, be it something else, she hugged him. Hugged him as tightly as only a mother could. And without hesitation, he put his arms round her and held her close as well.

"I know I'm not your mother," Sarah said. "But…"

"I get it," John said. "Trust me, you're much nicer than my mum is most of the time."

Sarah broke the embrace and began to laugh. "You've grown," she said.

He shrugged.

"Guess you…" She trailed off, as she began to cough.

"Sarah?"

"Fine," she said. "Just give me a second."

It didn't stop. The cough continued. Her head continued to pound. Nausea filled her stomach, she shivered, and blood landed on John's jacket as he caught her and helped her back into the seat.

"John," Sarah whispered. "What didn't your mother tell me?"

He glanced aside. "Might not be my place to say, but…"

"John. Please. I can take it."

"No. Really. I wasn't the one who found out."

"What?"

He stepped aside, and nodded to the man approaching him. Sarah stared.

"Pops?" she whispered.

The man kept walking, and in a second, Sarah knew it wasn't him.

It was a Terminator. T-800 Model 101. But it wasn't Pops. His face was the same. His walk was the same. But it wasn't her guardian. Her protector. The only father she'd had for years, who'd given his life to save her. It was a machine that bore his face, and no more than that. A machine that walked up to her before coming to a halt, towering above her, and even above John.

"Sarah Connor," it said.

Even the voice sounded different, she reflected. She looked at John. "Popular model," she murmured.

"He keeps coming," John murmured, and it was as if he was talking to himself rather than to her. "Same face. Same model. Over and over, as if we're always fated to meet him. Like the same actor always coming back to the stage." He looked past her. "Not that I believe in fate. And given what my mum wrote in this table, neither did she."

Sarah glanced at the carving. There were two words, but both had faded to the extent that she couldn't read it.

"Scans indicate that the girl's condition is worsening," the Terminator said.

Sarah blinked. "Condition?" She looked at John. "What condition?"

John's eyes were alight with sorrow. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"John?" she asked.

"It was already too late when we found you."

"John!" She grabbed his arm. "What's too late? What condition?"

"Radiation poisoning."

It was the Terminator who spoke. Slowly, Sarah let her grip go on John's arm, and she looked up into the machine's expressionless eyes.

"What?" she whispered.

"Radiation poisoning. Your body has absorbed abnormal levels of chronon radiation, most commonly associated with the time displacement technology developed by Skynet, and likewise utilized by Legion."

Sarah stumbled backward, sitting down on the bench. Like the Terminator's eyes, hers were expressionless.

"Common side effects include nausea, bleeding, hyper-tension, hair loss, diarrhea, and-"

"No," she whispered.

The Terminator stopped talking, but when she continued, she was looking at John. "That isn't possible."

"Sarah…"

"Kyle Reese travelled back in time. I've travelled forward in time." She shook her head. "No. That can't be it." She glared at the Terminator. "You're wrong, okay? Time travel doesn't kill you!"

"My scans are conclusive."

She got to her feet and shoved his chest. "Fuck you. I'm not sick, and I'm not dying, and…and I…"

She began to cough again. Blood. Lots of it.

"These are tell-tale symptoms."

Sarah waved a hand before collapsing back down on the bench. She shook her head, trying to steady her breathing. "It's…it's not possible…"

"Very possible, if the time displacement technology was in state of disrepair. Or if it was interfered with."

"But…" She trailed off.

She and Pops had cobbled their TDS from scratch. When she'd used it in 2018, it hadn't been used in over three decades. And then there'd been the T-5000. How it had been engulfed in the wave of energy it let out, and possibly had its core exposed to her in the process. And…and now she could barely think, because her heart was pounding, her stomach was heaving, and she was absolutely freezing, even as the sun blazed away in the sky.

"How…" She looked at the Terminator. "How bad is it?" she whispered.

"Terminal."

She slowly lowered her gaze. "Fair enough," she murmured.

"Sarah…" John reached out to her but she slapped his hand aside.

"So," she said. "Guess all I can do now is go along for the ride." She glanced at Daniella and Grace. "Been fighting longer than they have I bet. So, we deal with your Terminator, we stop Judgement Day, and-"

"This will not be possible for you," the Terminator said.

She looked up at him, and understood immediately. "How long?" she whispered.

The Terminator just stood there.

"How long?" she repeated, more forcefully this time.

"I do not understand."

"How long until I-"

"Hours," John whispered.

She looked at him, not feeling how tightly she was gripping the wood.

"At this rate, hours," John repeated.

Sarah opened her mouth…then chuckled.

"Sarah?"

She got to her feet and began walking towards Grace and Daniella. "Well," she said. "Guess that means there's even less time to waste." She coughed again, this time catching the blood on her hand. "I mean, since I'm not even in my own timeline, nothing I've done even matters anymore, so…"

"Sarah, it's alright."

She glanced back at John and winked. "Totally fine," she said. "I mean, far better way to go than a robot sent from the future who…who…"

Her vision. It was all blurry. Her head was pounding like a jackhammer. The sun was very, very bright.

"Sarah?"

She shook her head. "Just need…to go and…"

"Sarah, come on…"

Struggling to breathe, she said, "just because you're older than me, that doesn't mean you…that you…that I…"

She collapsed onto the dirt. Her head no longer pounding, but spinning.

"Sarah!"

Someone was calling for her.

"Damn it, get the others!"

She tried to raise an arm, but it had gone limp. Through her blurry vision, she could see someone grab it. Could see the faint outline of a face above her.

"Kyle?" she whispered.

She could just about feel the hand tighten against hers. The man above her was saying something. She could see him glance to the side, and through the corner of her eye, she could see people gathering around her.

"Don't leave me," she whispered. "Please, not again. Not again…"

Someone picked her up, but the grip on her hand didn't let go.

"Don't leave me…" She whispered. "Please, Kyle…don't leave me…"


	5. Judgement Day

.

**Terminator: Genisys and Revelations**

**Chapter 4: Judgement Day**

_The chill of the night air was far different from the warmth of their room. For starters, it didn't smell of sex._

_Sarah held a bottle of beer in her right hand, while glancing at her watch on her left. 12:44. They'd be bugging out soon. First rule of theirs was to never wait in one place for long. Second rule was to always leave in early morning, because law enforcement would be least active at that time. Still, she reflected, as she sat on the bench beside Kyle, she wouldn't have minded staying an extra day. The motel was a dump, but it was a much better dump than all the other dumps they'd stayed at over the last few months. They'd fled from LA after Cyberdyne, and now, had slowly been worming their way back to it. Last place the feds would look, right? They've used false names of course – Lena and Arnold Cameron._

"_So…" Kyle said. "That just happened."_

_Sarah smirked and drank more of the beer, shivering in the winter's chill. "That's your best pickup line?"_

_He shrugged. "Didn't try to pick up many girls."_

_She looked at him. "Really?"_

"_No. I mean, can't say I wasn't tempted, but, well, needs must, and desire has needs."_

_Sarah snorted and leant her head against his shoulder. "You really need to work on your lines."_

"_Guilty as charged."_

_She looked up at him. "But not guilty of, well, y'know?"_

"_Well, I'm with the mother of my best friend, who isn't really his mother anymore, but might be now, and…"_

_She kissed him. "Stop overthinking it," she whispered._

_He sipped more of the beer. "I'm trying not to."_

_She didn't say that she was trying to remain similarly ignorant. Because of all the things Pops had taught her over the years, the workings of human reproduction were among them. She knew that, as of around four hours ago, John Connor, or Jane Connor, or whoever, might have just been conceived. Which meant that months from now, her life would become even more complicated._

_Or maybe not. Maybe nothing had happened. It wasn't as if in the hours that they'd lain there, the sheets tangled around their bodies, that the world had ended. Wasn't as if the mother of the messiah had done her job, and the father could die. Wasn't as if…she sipped some more beer._

"_Pops is late," Kyle murmured._

_Sarah shrugged._

"_Think he's alright?"_

"_Of course. Besides…" She snuggled up closer next to him. "More alone time, huh?"_

_He snorted. "You know, it's going to be hell asking your dad for your hand in marriage and all that."_

"_Oh, marriage is it now?" She sat up straight and gave him a soft whack. "Jumping the gun a bit there, Romeo?"_

_He shrugged, and Sarah's face fell._

"_Holy shit, you're serious."_

"_Sarah, I…" He sipped some more. "Forget it."_

"_No. Go on." She got to her feet. "Come on. Say it."_

"_Sarah, come on."_

"_Say it," she said in a sing-song voice._

_Kyle sighed. "All I'm saying is that Genisys is gone, and that of all the stuff we have to worry about, fate, destiny, machines, all that crap? It's not on the radar anymore."_

"_So…we settle down," Sarah said. "Get a house. A job." She blinked. "Holy shit, what do people even do for jobs in this century anyway?"_

"_I could get a job."_

"_Oh come on, what job have you had after smashing machines?"_

_He smirked. "So…solid resume then?"_

_She took his hands in hers and rose him to his feet. "Very solid."_

_A silence lingered between the two of them. Just the two of them, standing there. Holding hands. Looking at each other. Smiling. _

"_Go on, say it," Sarah whispered._

_Kyle snorted. "You're impossible, you know that?"_

"_Yeah, I know. Better get used to it, because like it or not, you're stuck with me."_

"_Well, sure. Fine." He took her left hand in hers. "Sarah Connor. Will you, this night, be my-"_

_The sound of a barking dog cut through the air, and likewise, cut through the moment._

"_Oh hell," she said. She turned away and brushed her hands on her jean. "Must be Pops."_

"_Yeah. Must be." Kyle shrugged. "Your dad's got a sense of timing."_

"_Like you can talk." She picked up her satchel bag, and Kyle his. Both of them carrying guns, grenades, and pasta that had yet to be opened. They walked out into the carpark area and looked around, the dog barking all the while._

"_Stupid mutt," Sarah murmured. She looked at Kyle. "We get a house, we're getting a cat."_

"_A cat?"_

"_Yeah. A cat. Or heck, an iguana, I dunno."_

"_An iguana," he said dumbly._

"_Oh, you're impossible." _

"_Thought I was the one who was impossible."_

_She gave him a small slap on the arm before looking through the gloom. Up ahead, she saw Pops walking towards them. "Hey. You took your time."_

_Pops kept walking towards them._

"_Yeah, we're fine, thanks for asking," Sarah said. She looked at Kyle, winked, and looked back. "Like, nothing untoward."_

_Pops kept walking towards them._

"_Yeah Pops, much as I like the silent treatment right now, I…" She trailed off._

_Something was wrong. She knew it. Kyle put a hand on her shoulder, and it was clear he knew it as well._

_Pops kept walking. There was the screeching of a car pulling up behind them, and as they spun round, they saw-_

"_Pops?!" Sarah exclaimed._

_Her father. Her guardian. Her protector. He walked out, a grenade launcher in his hands._

"_What are you-"_

"_Get down!"_

_Sarah spun round. Pops…the other Pops…had pulled out an Uzi 9mm, and it was ready to fire._

"_Now!"_

_Kyle pulled her down as Pops fired. A grenade sailed through the air, hitting the other Pops. Sending it flying backward into a car, setting off its alarm. Causing the dog in the night to bark all the louder._

No. _Sarah looked at Pops, before looking at the other machine. Its chassis reconfiguring as it rose to its feet._

It's not possible.

_Its appearance no longer that of Pops, but of a black haired, fair skinned, twenty-something man._

We stopped it!

_Kyle yanked her to her feet._

It's not possible!

_The other Terminator began to fire. Bullets tore through the air, their car, and Pops himself. Glancing back, Sarah saw the bullets get absorbed by the alloy that now covered his chassis. He fired, hitting the Terminator again, but while the grenade staggered it this time, it didn't do much to stop it. But it didn't matter, as Sarah pulled herself and Kyle into the back seat, and Pops entered the driver's seat._

"_Hang on," he said._

_He drove off. Glancing back through the back window, Sarah saw the Terminator run after them. Run very fast. Run extraordinary fast. But as fast as it was, their vehicle was faster._

"_Pops, what the hell?" she asked._

"_It's Skynet," he said, not looking at her._

"_What?"_

"_Skynet. Held in a T-5000 chassis. The same Terminator that infected John Connor and sent him to the year 2014." He looked back at her through the rear-view mirror. "It's back."_

_Sarah slumped against the seat. "No. No way. It can't…we stopped it."_

"_Evidently not. Potentially, it has arrived in this time to ensure its own creation."_

_She sighed, running her hands through her hair. "Well, that's great. Just great!" She looked at Kyle, who was also sitting up. "Think we'll have to put the marriage plans on hold."_

_Kyle said nothing. He just slowly looked up at her._

"_Kyle?"_

"_Think…it's gonna be a long wait…" he whispered._

_He raised his hand and Sarah saw it was covered in blood. Just like the blood that was spreading across his stomach._

"_Kyle!"_

_He slumped back against the door, breathing shallowly._

"_Kyle? Kyle!"_

_His eyes were closed._

"_Kyle." She put her hands on his cheeks. "Come on, stay with me."_

"_Think…I'm gonna…"_

"_On your feet soldier!"_

_He didn't respond._

"_Kyle?" She looked at Pops. "He's been shot!"_

"_Affirmative."_

"_We have to get him to a hospital."_

"_Negative. The T-5000 is too close in proximity to risk that."_

"_Damn it Pops, I'm ordering you to!"_

"_That would be inadvisable."_

"_Pops, stop the fucking car!"_

_He did it – not quite a screech to a halt, but enough to cause her to bump against the front seat. But that meant nothing, as she leant over Kyle._

"_Hey, Kyle," she whispered. "It's gonna be okay, alright? Gonna get you help. Quick drop in, quick bullet out. And, hey. Still gotta propose to me, right? Do it proper?"_

_He said nothing._

"_Kyle?" she whispered._

_He wasn't moving._

"_Kyle?" she asked, this time a little louder._

_He wasn't breathing._

"_Kyle. Come on. Don't leave me…please…"_

"_Sarah…"_

"_Come on Kyle, come back."_

"_Sarah, he's been terminated.."_

"_Kyle…come on…"_

_She felt Pops's hand on her shoulder. "Sarah…"_

"_Don't touch me!" She yelled. She scrambled back away from him. From this machine. This fake father. This simulacrum of a human being._

"_I'm sorry," Pops said. He looked at the body of Kyle Reese beside her. "He was a good man."_

"_Is a good man. Is…he…he is…" She looked up at Pops. "He…he was…"_

"_It's alright," Pops whispered. "It's okay to cry."_

_Sarah hugged him as she wept._

"_Even if it is something I can never do."_

* * *

"Didn't let go…ran to the time thing…Skynet chased us…found us…always found us…Pops held it off…I ran…been running so long…I've always been running…"

The words came out as ragged as her breathing. She was resting on a bed, under a stained roof. The sun was filtering in through the window, cashing long shadows on the wall, her bed, her body. That, and the four people standing around her. One closer than any of them. The one who even now, still held her hand, as life slipped away from her.

"God's sake, just shoot her or something," a voice said.

Sarah heard an argument start. Heard words like "not machines…dead weight…REV Nine…Legion…needs of the many…" She heard that, but her hand was still held. Squinting through dying eyes, fighting pain, fighting nausea, she let her hand go, and brushed it against her cheek.

"I'm so sorry…I didn't see you…grow…" she whispered. Her hand flailed about, as she gasped for breath, and looked at the woman beside the man in front of her. A woman whose eyes were her own. "Proud…your son…he's a good man…"

The woman took Sarah's hand. "I know," she said.

"Know he's…not mine…but…" She gasped. The sun was setting. Night was coming. "Running…can't run anymore…" She squeezed the woman's hand. "I ran…I'm sorry…I ran, and I let him die…both of them…I loved him, and he died…"

"Sarah…" the man whispered.

The woman took Sarah's hand. "You did good kid," she whispered. "You did good."

Sarah tried to laugh, but every motion of her chest was like torture. Her skin was on fire. Her hair was falling on the pillow. No laughter, but only a gasp. One gasp after another, as every cell in her body continued to die.

"Think…it's time…to go…"

"Damn right," someone murmured.

"Seriously Grace, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"You think I haven't seen people die before Johnny? Trust me – bullet's better than dying like this."

Sarah managed to laugh this time. As she coughed up more blood, the moment was ruined though. Nevertheless, she looked at John.

"Good man…" she whispered. "Whatever you become…leader or no…you're a good man. Never forget that John…never forget that…"

He said nothing. But she felt him kiss her softly on the forehead.

"Sarah," she whispered. She looked into the eyes of the older woman. A woman who, now, as she lay here on the cusp of final sleep, reminded her of her mother. Those brief, distant years, when she would look down on her. Comfort her. Keep her safe. She coughed again.

"Never stop fighting…" the younger Sarah whispered. "You're strong…stronger than I ever was…so please…don't stop…the world…it still needs you…"

She nodded. "I know," she murmured.

"The girl…needs you…" She guided her hand to the fourth one in the room. The one who hadn't spoken word. "Dani…"

She walked over and knelt beside her. Sarah could see her eyes…the confusion…the sorrow…the fear…

"They'll keep coming for you…" Sarah whispered. "Machines, from the future…hunting you…always…unless you stop it…once and for all…" She coughed, and grasped Dani's hand. "They did it to me…" She looked at John. "They did it to him." She looked at Sarah. "They did it to her." She returned her gaze to the girl. "Don't…let them do it to you. Skynet…Legion…Genisys…don't let it do it…to anyone else." She coughed, blood trickling out of her mouth. "Stop it…_please_…"

She let go of Dani's hand and closed her eyes.

"Sarah?" she heard someone ask.

She smiled, as dreams sung her to her rest. "The answer's yes, Kyle…"

"Sarah, please…"

"I will…" she rasped.

"Sarah!"

She let out final breath…

…and was left with final memory, before dreamless sleep took her.


	6. Epilogue: Dark Fate

.

**Terminator: Genisys and Revelations**

**Epilogue: Dark Fate**

The Terminator has dug the grave quickly, and fashioned a wooden headstone in a similar amount of time.

Only two words carved into this marker – Sarah Connor. No years for the girl from another time. No inscription for the girl from another world. Few words from those gathered as well, for they had known her for the duration of a day. Muted farewells and no prayers, for if God resides in Heaven, he has long let Earth go to Hell. Even before the fire, and the End of Days. There is nothing to be said, for the road to the future is long, and its salvation is paved for by actions, not words.

The Terminator tells them it will load the 4WD – they've lingered her long enough. The REV 9 is still after them. Judgement Day is coming, and unless they stop it, the people of the world will meet fates far worse than the girl they've just buried. It heads off, the sound of a barking dog following it. For days ago, Legion has let loose the hounds of war, and what better than a similar soldier to face them?

Grace heads after the machine – she has no interest in this. Her future is not the girl's. Her enemy is not hers. She's seen hundreds of people die, and as long as Danielle Ramos is kept alive, hundreds more can afford to die as well. The needs of the future outweigh the needs of the present and today, the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.

Dani leaves not long after. She comprehends so little of this. Machines. Time travel. Doppelgangers. All she understands is that apparently, she has to be kept alive. For her sake, and for the sake of all mankind. Grace has told her this. That Judgement Day is coming. But casting a final look at the headstone, she tells herself…that she has to do it. For the sake of the woman whose hand she held as she died. For everyone living in this world, and for all those yet to be born.

Long shadows are cast over the last two who stand there. Man and woman. Mother and son. Eyes old, eyes weary – death has returned to their worlds, and death had taken another. The one named John Connor looks at the older woman. Sarah Connor. Wearing a flak jacket and dark sunglasses, while his clothes are simply 'normal.' A taste of a life that was denied to him from the moment he took first breath within this world. Life he dared dream he could take, before steel and death returned to his time.

"I know she wasn't my mother," he says

She looks at him.

"But seeing her die…it felt losing you again." She gives him a look, and he adds, "when they took you from me. When they took me away."

No more words are exchanged between mother and son. Just a final nod from the son, and the silence of the mother. Tacit acknowledgement of all that still binds them…and the gulfs that will exist forever. The fighter. The leader. Wandering through time like a pair of vagabonds.

The mother watches the son as he walks off towards the vehicle that awaits them. To those that are ready to drive down the highway that leads to the future. However, she is not yet ready. She stands here alone, as she has in this place so many times. The people who lived here have moved on. The girl who once come here had grown up – she, who came here so many years ago that she might live and bring new life into this world, knowing that the girl she once was had also come here to die. The girl, now a woman, who stands at the gravestone of her younger self, silent shame caught in the twilight breeze. Looking at the marker of one who fought as hard as she had. One who had run, but always faced the future. One whom Sarah Connor couldn't help but look upon in regret. Seeing who she had been. Who she could never be. And reminded of what she would always have to do. Things said that she could never take back, her only solace being that Sarah Connor hadn't died alone. Sarah Connor, the girl who lived, had come to the same place to die twice.

She draws a knife from her belt and kneels down in front of the grave. A knife that she had used years ago to carve two words into a place where she had rested, and dreamt of the future. A knife that she holds in her hands again. A knife which she uses to carve two words into the headstone before her, under the name of Sarah Connor. Words for the one buried here. Words for herself. Words for all those who have given their lives for the future, and all those yet to come.

**NO FATE**

She rises to her feet and walks away, under the light of the setting sun.

**The End**

* * *

_A/N_

_"Da da dum, da dum dum." Oh. Wait. This isn't a movie._

_Anyway, that's that. Thanks to the people who reviewed. By way of shameless plugging, I do have another _Terminator _story on my "to write" list _(Veiled Gauntlet_, detailed on my homepage), but that's a long way off. Like, a really long way off. Right now, as far as multi-chapters go, I'm kind of at this point where the only ones I write are ones that were originally oneshots. But as to what I'm working on now, there's a case of a 'traditional' multi-chaptered story (_All the World's a Stage_, a _Firefly _story that I've been working on for well over a year at this point), and one of those "once a oneshot, now a multi-chapter" stories titled _A Song of Ice and Fire_. Which isn't actually based on _Game of Thrones_, but _My Little Pony_. Because reasons._


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